After Spurs lesson we’ve done our homework for Liverpool, insists Driver
IT HAS taken a full year but perhaps the wreckage of Hearts’ Europa League thrashing by Tottenham Hotspur is about to give up its silver lining. So chastening and utterly demoralising was the 5-0 defeat to the Londoners that Thursday’s play-off clash with Liverpool has almost threatened to sneak under the radar.
Tickets have flown out the door as the Gorgie support prepares for a rare night of glamour but, in contrast to last season, there have been no grandstanding predictions of an upset.
With expectation levels negligible, might low-key help unlock the door to a surprise appearance in the tournament’s group stage?
‘Last year was strange,’ admitted winger Andrew Driver. ‘People genuinely felt we could do something against Tottenham at Tynecastle. Maybe the pressure has been taken off us now and we can show the best of ourselves.’
Last year’s hopes that a packed Tynecastle might unsettle Harry Redknapp’s free-flowing side were blown apart by a Rafael van der Vaart goal inside five minutes and, by the half-hour mark, it was three. The final scoreline seemed a mercy in the circumstances.
It did not help that manager Paulo Sergio, just a couple of weeks into the job following the bizarrely-timed decision of Vladimir Romanov to sack Jim Jefferies, seemed to have picked his team from a tombola.
Experienced goalscorer Rudi Skacel was left on the bench while a half-fit Driver toiled on one flank and youngster David Templeton was left stranded on the other. The formation seemed more suited to a cup tie against a Third Division side and Hearts were consequently ripped to pieces as goals from Jermain Defoe, Gareth Bale, Jake Livermore and Aaron Lennon completed the rout.
‘You go in wanting to enjoy playing against the big stars but they showed their quality and it was a massive eye-opener,’ admitted Driver. ‘It shows you how far you have to go as a professional.
‘The way they carved us open was unbelievable — three of their goals were inside the sixyard box, they went through us so quickly.
‘There were a few mitigating circumstances, especially the fact the manager had only been in the door a couple of weeks. Maybe we hadn’t prepared as much as we could have.
‘We were also unfortunate in that it was Spurs’ first game of the season and they had a lot to prove. Ten minutes later it was game over. It was the longest 90 minutes of my life.’
Just a couple of summers earlier, Driver had been part of England’s Under-21 squad at the European Championships but admits he was in no shape to face Spurs.
‘I was probably around 75-per-cent fit, because I’d had an operation in the off-season,’ he concedes. ‘I was behind massively at that point and I was overweight because I’d been doing so much work in the gym. It wasn’t fat, just bulk.
‘Mentally, being unfit doesn’t help either. When you get tired your first touch goes, you’re not as sharp.
‘I’ve been getting in better shape every game. I got a good 15 games in towards the end of last season and I haven’t missed a minute in pre-season.
‘I had two years of my career where I hardly trained and hardly played and you’ll never improve like that. I’ve had to start again and I’m getting back to the point where I’m beginning to improve again.’
Driver looked back to his best during Hearts’ 5-1 Scottish Cup Final victory over Hibs in May and he is hoping to carry that form into the new season. Hitting the heights against Liverpool will be tough but he’s confident Sergio’s successor John McGlynn will have the team better prepared for this year’s Premier League test.
‘Last year, we weren’t as organised as we should have been and, with the way we’re set up now, I can’t see us losing goals as easily as that to Liverpool,’ he continued. ‘We’ve had all pre-season to prepare with the new boss and we’ve only lost two goals all summer.
‘Obviously, this is a big step up — the Liverpool players are on those wages for a reason. But, as professionals, we want to test ourselves against them and ultimately put on a better show than we did last year.
‘Who knows? I know it didn’t happen last time but, in games like this, if you can keep it tight for the first half, you never know what can happen.’
A lack of diligence certainly will not be an issue as far as McGlynn is concerned. A renowned workaholic who leaves nothing to chance in his preparation of his teams, the former Raith Rovers chief has been doing his homework on the Liverpool players and their new manager Brendan Rodgers.
‘We’re hoping it is going to be a good time to play Liverpool,’ said McGlynn. ‘The manager is still trying to get ideas across to them and the players might take time to buy into that.
‘Because of that, we’ll study footage of Swansea to see how they played under Brendan Rodgers last season.
‘There’s no doubt he got them playing very attractive football and it looks like he’ll try to get Liverpool doing that, too.
‘But does he have the same type of players there? Will it be too early for that to happen?
‘If there is any sort of complacency at all on Liverpool’s part, then we have to use that to our advantage.’